Help Centre
› Webmail
› How to Compose a New Email
Writing and sending email from SmartXHosting webmail is quick and works the same on phones and laptops. This tutorial covers the compose window, the To/Cc/Bcc fields, saving drafts, formatting options, and a few UK-specific conventions around subject lines and signatures that earn your messages more attention and pass anti-spam scoring cleanly.
Webmail offers two routes to a new message:
- Compose button. The + (plus) icon in the top-right of any folder view. On desktop webmail it is a labelled New Message button.
- Reply flow. From an open message, the arrow icon opens Reply, Reply All or Forward. The compose window pre-fills the recipients and the subject line with an
Re: or Fwd: prefix.
The compose window opens either full-screen (mobile) or as a panel on the right (desktop).
- In the To: field, type the recipient's email address. To add several recipients, separate addresses with commas — for example
[email protected], [email protected].
- Tap the + icon next to the field to pick contacts from your address book instead of typing.
- To add Cc or Bcc recipients, tap Cc/Bcc to expand those fields.
- As you type, webmail suggests matches from your address book and from your recent correspondents — pick from the suggestions to avoid typos.
| Field | Purpose | Visibility |
|---|
| To | Primary recipients — the people the message is addressed to | Visible to all recipients |
| Cc | Carbon Copy — people who should see the message but are not the primary audience | Visible to all recipients |
| Bcc | Blind Carbon Copy — people copied silently, typically an internal colleague or an archive mailbox | Hidden from To and Cc recipients |
Bulk email and UK GDPR. Never put a list of customer or supplier email addresses in the To or Cc fields when emailing them all at once — every recipient sees every other recipient's address. That constitutes a data disclosure under UK GDPR and has been a recurring ICO enforcement theme. Use Bcc for the recipient list, or use a mail-merge tool designed for the job.
A clear subject line makes the difference between a message read today and one lost in an overloaded inbox. Good UK business subjects:
- Are 40-70 characters. Both Gmail's and Outlook's mobile preview truncate beyond about 50 characters.
- State the topic, not the relationship. "VAT return Q1 2026 draft for review" is better than "Quick question".
- Signal urgency honestly. Overuse of "URGENT" or "ACTION REQUIRED" trains recipients to ignore them.
- Avoid characters that trigger spam filters: multiple exclamation marks, all caps, currency sums like
£500 FREE, emojis in business correspondence.
Type or paste your message into the body field. The mobile webmail editor offers basic formatting (bold, italic, lists, links). Desktop webmail adds font family, font size, text alignment, colours, and image insertion.
Keyboard shortcuts in desktop webmail for the body:
Ctrl+B / Cmd+B — boldCtrl+I / Cmd+I — italicCtrl+U / Cmd+U — underlineCtrl+K / Cmd+K — insert link
To attach a file, tap the paperclip icon. On mobile, pick from your device's files or photo library; on desktop, open a file picker or drag-and-drop into the compose window. See the separate tutorial on managing attachments for size limits and security notes.
- Send. Tap the red arrow (→) button in the top-right. The message is delivered to the server, signed with DKIM, and handed to outbound delivery. It lands in your Sent folder once the server accepts it.
- Save draft. Tap Save & Close at the bottom (mobile) or the draft icon (desktop). Drafts are saved to the server, so they are visible on any other device where you sign in. Auto-save also runs every 30 seconds while you type.
- Discard. Tap X in the top-left (mobile) or the trash icon (desktop). The compose window closes and the message is not saved.
After sending, the message sits in the server's outbound queue for typically 1-3 seconds before leaving for the recipient's mail server. During peak traffic (e.g. 09:00-10:00 UK business hours), the queue may take up to 30 seconds.
A signature is auto-appended to every message you compose. Set it in Settings › Identity.
Contents worth including:
- Your name and job title.
- Company name with Companies House registration number (a legal requirement for UK limited companies since the Companies (Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2008).
- Registered office address.
- VAT number if VAT-registered.
- Phone number and website.
Contents to skip or keep subtle:
- Inline images and logos — they often fail to render, count towards message size, and cause some DKIM signers extra work. A simple text link to your website is more reliable.
- Legal disclaimers beyond 3-5 lines — their enforceability is minimal, and they clutter replies.
Desktop webmail supports scheduled send — compose now, deliver at a chosen time. Useful when writing outside business hours and wanting delivery at 08:00 UK time so the message is at the top of the recipient's inbox when they arrive.
In the compose window, click the arrow next to Send and choose Schedule send. Pick date and time. The message is held on the server until the scheduled moment.
- Greeting. "Dear Alex" for first contact; "Hi Alex" once the relationship is established; first-name-only ("Alex,") is increasingly common but stays polite.
- Sign-off. "Kind regards," for business; "Best regards," as a warmer variant; "Best wishes," is friendlier still. "Yours sincerely" / "Yours faithfully" are fading from business use but remain correct for formal letters.
- Dates. UK format, 23 April 2026 or 23/04/2026 — never 04/23/2026 (which reads as the 4th of March-23 to US-trained readers but is simply wrong in British context).
- Currency. £500 or "five hundred pounds"; do not write "500 GBP" in customer correspondence — it reads as jargon.
- Time zone. Default to "UK time" if needed; specify BST or GMT when crossing the March/October clock change. International recipients appreciate UTC offsets (09:00 UK / 08:00 UTC).
SmartXHosting mail is DKIM-signed. Every message you send from
Business Email,
Private Email or
Public Administration Email leaves with an RSA-2048 DKIM signature applied server-side, so your authentication record with Google, Microsoft, and other major receivers is clean from the first message.
Q: Can I undo a send?
A: There is no server-side unsend after delivery. Desktop webmail offers a 5-second "Undo" banner for the moments right after clicking Send — use it if you spot a mistake immediately.
Q: What is the maximum message size I can send?
A: 35 MB including attachments on standard plans. Mail servers generally accept up to 25-35 MB; larger attachments should use a link-based share (e.g. a Nextcloud or SmartXHosting file share link).
Q: Does webmail warn me if I forget the attachment?
A: Yes. If the body mentions "attached", "see attachment" or similar and no file is attached, a prompt asks whether you intended to attach one.
Q: Can I send from an alias address?
A: Yes, if aliases are configured on your mailbox. Set them in Settings › Identities, then pick the sending identity from the From dropdown in the compose window.
Q: Are my drafts visible only to me?
A: Yes. The Drafts folder is private unless you have explicitly shared it with someone. Other users cannot see your drafts.